The Joy Of Writing Or How Much Work Does It Really Take?

As writers we are under a lot of pressure to provide stories or articles that people want to read. It's our job to figure out what people want. What questions do they need answered? (Now, where did I leave my crystal ball?). Thankfully there are many tools on the internet to help writers with that very question. (These tools will be covered in another post).It is hard for writers to keep the content flowing, especially if you want to produce a quality read not just some beat-up article to reach a goal set by yourself or someone else. There is a lot of garbage out there today. You only have to look at the amount of sub-contracting that goes on at such sites as freelancer.com to realize a lot of content is really regurgitated dribble; some of it totally nonsensical and unreadable. A writer oft admired is Jean M. Auel, however on the downside; she can take up to fourteen or more years to complete a book. Her website is often out of date and the fans voice frustration from the lack of ongoing information about how the next book is coming along, or if in fact it is being written at all. As writers you feel for Jean Auel and her publishers because you understand how long it can take to produce a quality read. You want your readers to appreciate what you have done and it may take several drafts just to complete half a page. That half a page may have taken hours upon hours or even days or weeks. Every sentence, every punctuation mark and grammatical inference has been studied, read and re-read to make sure points are simple and clear to the reader and that it cannot be misinterpreted to mean something other than what you intended. Reducing words down to the minimum and yet keeping a clear picture and retaining your voice. It's not easy!

Anyone who has written anything understands how difficult the process can be. Some people give a simple letter to another member of their family to write because they cannot string a sentence together to save themselves!

The type of writing that Jean Auel does is highly researched and cannot easily be sub-contracted out to another writer. Her fans would be devastated if they purchased her latest book only to find that it sounded completely different from her previous work and the research was lacking or unrealistic.

Many fans of, Jean M. Auel's, Earth's Children, series wait anxiously for years for Jean's next book and re-read her older books before reading the new release. One fan purchased the entire set of the, Earth Children's, series in hardback to display on her bookshelves. It does look brilliant. But this is the devout enthusiasm that true believers can display.

Writers, be patient with yourself and work on your writing daily. Good writing takes time but be sure, writing a quality piece of work is much more enjoyable for you and the reader than to write some quickly mashed-up string of incoherent words simply to push a product or make an affiliate happy.

Good writing is worth the wait.

Practice the art of writing and be proud of your perfections and tolerant of your imperfections because they too have a purpose.